Spain’s Santander and Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo have agreed to sell their 75% stake in fund platform business Allfunds Bank for around €1.3 billion.
The buyers are US private equity fund Hellman & Friedman and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC.
The remaining 25% will be sold by Warburg Pincus and General Atlantic as part of an earlier agreement reached with Santander, valuing the entire deal at €1.8 billion.
Allfunds is a business-to-business model that provides services supporting mutual fund distribution for over 530 clients and has offices in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
According to fund platform research firm Platforum, the transaction is the biggest global platform deal to date. Allfunds is the largest platform in Europe, with assets under administration rising from €55 billion in 2011 to over €250 billion currently.
Platforum’s senior analyst, Rodolf Crespo, said; “The platform’s growth is the result of an aggressive strategy of international expansion from home markets Spain and Italy into Central Europe, the UK, Asia and more recently in Latin America, which is a natural move for a platform of Spanish roots.”
The deal follows from the sale of Cofunds to Aegon last year by insurer Legal & General for £140 million (€162 million) as consolidation in the fund platform sector looks set to continue.
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